Of Stars in a Fairy Tale
by Shiroi Iyasu
Summary: '"Alright then. Prove to me that Brave Vesperia is a real star in the night sky." Because obviously, a game isn't my reality, as much as I hate reality in the first place.' For Sylph Writer's FTaBV Contest. -to be rewritten-


GAWD, WHAT AM I DOING?

Argh, forget it. Sylphie was _bound_ to find me eventually... and speaking of which, this is my entry for her contest~! :D So, I don't own_ Fairy Tales and Brave Vesperia_, or Tales of Vesperia really, but at least I own my OC and her bird.

Edit - Played a little with my OC's age. She seemed too young anyway - Rita and Karol do not count. The former has kick-ass spells and Kaorl has... a... hammer(?) - so I made her fifteen. She'll still retain a childish personality though, because being a child is fun~ Really. But of course, if you catch any parts where I missed changing her age, I wouldn't mind a note on that.

* * *

><p>"There's a special star in the sky."<p>

I raised an eyebrow at him. The candy store man was acting strange again... Oh well. It's his nature, I guess. Everyone says he sprouts random gibberish at any random moment, so I guess it was just one of those times. In any case, I went along with him, as usual, "O... kay. There's a special star in the sky. Yup."

He smiled widely, twirling a rainbow-swirled lollipop inbetween his fingers. The air weakly spun around it as he did so. "It's the largest in the sky, and has an immense importance that most don't realise. The reason is quite interesting really - would you like to hear about it, little girl?"

I simply sighed and shook my head, pulling the lollipop out of his fingers. It's mine actually. "Didn't I tell you to stop calling me 'little girl'? And as for your question, no. Maybe some other day." Slowly, I turned back, walking to the door as I pocketed my money while racking through the next song on my playlist. Thank the goddesses PSPs are portable lil' multi-tasking things. I love my music, but I can't stand going anywhere without it. Plus, I can play my games. Two birds with one stone, compared to anything else I can think of at the moment.

His smile turned into mock disappointment. "Sad. I really thought you would be interested in it. Regardless, I'll at least tell you its name - Brave Vesperia."

I halted by the door, my head snapping back to him with a look of momentary disbelief and then flatness. O~kay... Candy Store Guy is a Tales player? Wow, that's something new. But anyway, time to be ignorant of whatever he's talking about. "...You're joking me. Brave Vesperia? That's a rather lame name for a star, no matter what... Actually, where did it get its name anyways? That might explain a lot."

He laughed a bit, plucking out another lollipop - cherry red and watermelon blue. He seemed to have a personal preference for those - from under the snow-wood counter. "Oh, it's an ancient star, named at least... one thousand years ago, perhaps? But I'm only interested in what it is, and what its function is. Did you know that this star is just a giant orb of energy, and is said to be the seal for a dark evil that plagued the world long, long ago?"

"Simple bedtime stories," I replied rather dryly to that. I have a feeling he made up some of those facts... But I don't know. Haven't personally played the game myself, after all. But anyways, it's getting late. I have to get going now...

"It sounds like it..." Candy Store Guy traced invisible dots on the counter, smiling rather amusingly to himself before he looks up to stare at me. Something is rather... _off_ about that stare. It's either the cold, but I'm getting a bad vibe from it. "But I'm very sure it isn't. It's all truth and not fiction. If you want, I could show you this star."

"Oh~ how interesting." Okay, Candy Store Guy is a little insane, but that's a _wee_ bit above his normal moments of randomness. But as usual, I went along with it. "Let me see you prove that then, if Brave Vesperia is a real star in the night sky."

"And I will." His smile stretched out widely. I just shook my head disbelievingly and walked out - the golden bell made a cheerful ring as I did so - into the snowy landscape of streets during the darkened hours of an evening of December 25th, Christmas. And not just snow - there was plenty of overflowing joy, fun and emotion everywhere as I walked away from the store, tearing away the wrapper off the lollipop.

"Brave Vesperia huh..." I paused and instinctively looked up. There was nothing but a graying cover of clouds as the full moon shined vainly through it. Silly me. Even if it did exist, I wouldn't see the thing through those clouds!

I stuck the treat into my mouth - it was a little... hard, considering its size - and continued walking back home.

* * *

><p>If you ask me what would be the best of advice from me, I think I would have said, <em>"Just dream, and forget all <em>about_ reality." _Because real life isn't what any of us want it to be, especially not me. And, I love to day-dream. It's second-nature to day-dream when I have nothing to do.

But that was before. Now, you'd get the most insane thing you've probably heard of in your life so far - _"_Fuck_ the existence of fairies."_

Yup. I hate fairies. Even if I was a deep believer of fantasy and the supernatural, I don't think I'll trust the supposed 'goodness' of fairies - those people have an absolute ego problem! Oh oh, and not just that. They have a superiority complex too! - in my life anymore, that is, if I managed to live through my dream life and not get my throat clawed out by an approaching monster coming from right behind me. And no, I'm not joking about that monster.

"_Photon!_" I cried, letting the spell do its work. As the stupid monster got engulfed in the light momentarily, I took this chance to pick up my fallen staff and get my ass running. You think I can keep up fighting like that? I'm like the healer or offensive magic user of your typical RPG game party - I'm absolutely weak in physical attacking and defence, and my agility isn't the best either. Add the fact that I'm alone, and you would clearly understand my need to flee.

The spell must have worn off, because I could already hear the angry growl of my enemy as it hurried to catch up. Damnit! Nordopolica isn't even in sight and that thing is still after me! I really shouldn't have declined that offer of hiring a mercenary to help me through this desert... Ugh, me and my pride, and my overestimating of my bird companion.

Speaking of my bird companion... damn again. I forgot her at the inn. She was so engrossed in finishing off some chef's meal (Wonder Chef? No idea) - who knew that guy knew how to please monsters too? - that I left her to go stock up on gels and stuff... Before forgetting that I even had a monster companion and left. Oh boy, Celly will be mad if she realises that I forgot about her - _again_. But yeah, no time to keep dwelling on such matters. Just gotta keep run-

Next thing I knew, something had hit my foot - there's nothing here that could have done that! What is this, a Colette moment? - and I was sent spiraling into the sand, coughing out sand particles from my mouth. Yuck. This sand tastes worse than the sand back home... _Argh!_ Why am I being so distracted today?

I hastily picked myself up - I was still coughing out the horrible tasting sand - before I noticed the monster had already caught up with me. It didn't look like it would fall for my fake acting skills either. This is when Celly would come by, distract the thing, and then we would run for our lives as the monster's preoccupied with something. Well... that might not be happening this time.

"Oh shiiiiit..." I hissed under my breath, anxiously fingering the worn wood of the staff. It was a rather pretty, although simple staff, one end looking like a large spiral-shaped shell - or a bun. Ones with raspberries and blueberries stuffed in them. Yeah... - while a green bead hanging from a thread was somehow strung through it. The other end of the staff held a small, dark emerald-tinted orb. Overall, the staff kinda reminded me of witches or something.

But anyways, back to the situation at hand - me trying to distract a monster. _Alone_.

"U-Uh, um..." I took a cautious step back, feeling the monster's deep stare going to it. "Uh... nice... monster?"

…

...Yeah, I'm so dead. Well, at least I'll die having lived an impossible dream. Maybe I can brag all about it when I head to heaven. Yeah... that would be a nice idea. As it is, everyone back home might think I'm dead by now.

Anything else to say? Um... nope. Righto, time to wait.

...

...

...

"_Star Stroke!_"

...Didn't I _just_ say I did not have anything else to say!

* * *

><p>"Hey, you alright?" Yuri turned to look at me. I simply scowled at said man, already beginning another one of my tirades that everyone usually tends to ignore - if you don't count Estelle, because she was brought up to listen to the people, after all - naturally. "Don't you go all so casually at me, mister! I think purposely throwing your sword barely <em>one centimeter<em> over my head isn't the best way to begin the fight! You could have had a bit of bad luck and end up making _me_ the aim of the target practice!"

He only shrugged - I swear, he's just as bad as Fairy Man sometimes...! "At least you're in one piece at the moment. And besides - I was feeling a bit nostalgic of when we first met you. And your bird."

"She's a special and extremely rare breed of ice-dwelling Hawks, for your information!" Actually, I was lying - I have no clue to what she is at all. She just makes me think of Hawks though, but more suited for colder regions. "And being nostalgic is not an excuse at all for that sort of tactic! If anything had happened, I would make sure my ghost travels with you guys and haunts you with Letha-esque pranks and stuff!"

"Oh jeez, livin' up a little, my angel~! You're only fifteen! Can't start getting white hairs now, can ya?" Raven smoothly - I had detected slight fear on hearing about Letha, but maybe that's my imagination there - walked over, already clamping an arm on my shoulders without waiting. "The monster's dead, you're safe, and everything is okay-dokay. What more can you ask?"

"How about your arm off my shoulders, for instances?" I dryly retorted. Mentally, I was already making a countdown - it was for my 'Lets See How Fast Raven Can Get the Hint Before Being Frozen to a Popsicle' timer that I've been doing for quite a while already, because, even if you're traveling on an epic journey to eventually save the world, it can get boring and dull once in a while. Though Letha was nice - as in, she goes into strange bouts of randomness that are fun to join in. I _honestly_ can't see why no one joins in them... - and all, she can't keep being the fun-loving person all day around.

"But there's no fun in that~!" ...Is it me, or am I getting a bad vibe from that?

"I think she meant 'If you don't get yourself off me in the next few seconds, I will get Celeste to cast _Freeze Lancer_ on you', or did I go wrong somewhere, Ange?" Letha spoke up, pointing a gloved finger at the archer. I only gave the woman a knowing smile, "Nah~ you've hit the deadline mark."

"Deadline...?"

The abyss-haired man only sighed, shaking his head lightly at us. "It's an inside joke between them. Don't try understanding it, Estelle. I don't get it either."

* * *

><p>"What'cha doin'?" I popped my head over the brunette's shoulder, seeing her look alarmingly at me as she shut her journal shut. Eventually her tensed body calmed as a smile - it felt undoubtedly nervous, perhaps even filled with a slight hint of fright - filled her lips. "Just doing some writing."<p>

I raised an eyebrow. "You mean the writing Estelle's doing over there?" I asked, pointing a finger at the rose-haired girl nearby, utterly devoted to writing something that I couldn't see without bending over their shoulders and breathing over their necks freakishly. Or at least, that's how my sister kinda describes the times I do that...

"Yeah."

"Oh... can I see then? Judith's not letting me help with dinner, and Yuri's agreeing with her (that fricken bastard)...!" Okay, so I accidentally dropped a pot full of hot water on Karol's foot, mistakened the flour to be salt, accidentally slipped and made a huge mess of Rita's clothes (who the _heck_ placed the laundry basket there?) and had also fed Repede something I shouldn't (I thought mushrooms were supposed to be _normal_ if they were brown!). But I'm not that much of a walking disaster! Well, except for the fact I broke my computer three times, my mouse five times, four umbrellas, one or two plates and glasses, a table and chair, two mirrors (I'm kinda believing that 'seven years bad luck' thing now...) and my keyboard and computer monitor twice, but yeah, that does not count currently!

"Um," There was more of that anxious, strange nervousness. "Sure."

Quietly, she handed the journal to me, flipping the pages to the back where that supposed 'ancient writing' Estelle was doing was done. She pulled her hand back when I got the gist of where she was going, and looked through the back pages myself. There was a new, fresh line written on the page I stared at.

**I wonder if I'll forget everything at this rate.**

This...

...Isn't the Vesperian Alphabet, nor anything remotely unfamiliar to me.

**I mean, Yuri told me that I once talked about my brothers... something about rain and thunder, but I can't even **_**recall **_**that I ever had a memory like that anymore. I think, rather honestly, that what's keeping me from actually forgetting all about Earth is what I've written here. Even now, it's hard to recall what my house even looked like anymore - I'm imagining instead of remembering.**

English words? _Letters that I actually read?_

**I've gotten most of the heirlooms by now, but Nevi said I'm missing two. He said I should be cautious - if I looked through his sarcasm and rudeness, yes - for some other fairy person - I'm voting for Alastor. Anyone else? Oh wait, of course not - has apparently gotten himself a helper to search for the remaining heirlooms, and long back too. It wouldn't be a surprise if that helper already found them. But if I ever crossed paths with the guy, I wouldn't know because the heirlooms won't respond with an overly-shiny light like the others do. That guy is its temporary owner now, or that's basically the logic of it, I guess.**

Two remaining heirlooms...? It's... It's not referring to the Amethyst and Aquamarine heirlooms, is it? W-Well, Amethyst is the only one sitting safely - out of prying hands at least - in my bag, while Aqua sits around Celeste's neck disguised as a necklace/collar of sorts because for the love of me, I don't know _when_ I could ever lose one of them through my clumsiness-

...Oh _fuck_.

"Uh..."

"Yeah?" I looked hesitantly at the brunette, a little too quick to respond, but she doesn't seem to have noticed it. Maybe. I don't know, okay!

"...You're a little pale, you okay? And also, are you done reading yet?" Her smile was stretched out thinly with concern, but with the same nervousness. Though, at least I wasn't wondering why she was feeling frightened and anxious and all that stuff. In return to that motion, I bobbed my head a bit and handed back her journal. Though yet again, my mouth worked on its own accord and began blabbering things I would have held back on a second thought. Or on a dangerous situation too, but I think that's besides the point.

"By the way... thanks for mentioning what hot chocolate tastes like in there." I smiled a little – _somehow. _Don't ask why because I can't understand it myself either - despite seeing her sudden blank-for-ideas expression. "It's been a while since I remembered what good hot chocolate is like."

* * *

><p>It was a snowy December 25th.<p>

Normally, I would join in the Christmas celebrations, but not this year. I really couldn't push myself to be happy at all - things had went down hill starting from this year. But I'm not going to dwell on it for too long. Why try to remember the downs of your life on a supposedly joyful day? It's a silly idea, but I was always a rather silly person since the very beginning.

I passed through a row of shops, some closed, some still lit with people barging in for an _extremely_ last-minute holiday shopping. It was amusing to see them panic for the perfect present, but I eventually moved on from the sight. Suddenly, a candy shop came in sight. When I looked through the display window - the insides were plain, and terribly so. But the candy that had been placed everywhere and not just on boring old shelves that it had filled it with its rainbow-extracted colors, and a weak scent of unexplainable sweetness - it was empty, which honestly wasn't surprising. Who would want sweets on Christmas unless it was decorated marzipan or wine-filled plum cake? Maybe children, but I didn't want sweets when I was younger.

Curiously, I entered the shop. A golden bell ringed above me - shops still have these? - as I opened the snow-colored door, and soon, I was greeted by a man at the counter. He smiled pleasantly at me, but eventually continued to clean the wood surface silently. Minutes had passed with me looking at the shelves almost musingly before the man cut through the silence with a shuffle of noise. When I looked back at him, I saw him remove a lollipop - cherry red and watermelon blue - before twirling it between his fingers in an idle manner that somehow didn't make him look like he was bored.

"There is a special star in the sky - Brave Vesperia. They say that is the seal for an ancient evil born one thousand years ago... While others say it is the brother of the silver moon."

My eyes sharpened as I frowned. "...Thank you for enlightening me."

"Oh, don't," he simply continued to smile - it was an ever-pleasant one that hadn't fallen off his face since the day I've known him, false personality or not. "Seeing you again, it reminded me of those many years ago. How things have changed since then!"

He laughed airily. I simply shook my head, plucking out a large, rainbow-colored lollipop from the shelves. How things have changed indeed... I don't know what to think of life anymore because of it. Everything looks so different through another lens that it's hard to believe those events long ago had even happened to me. Yet, it had taught me so much, of some things that I could have never properly understood if I never went through them.

"Gee, you seem to be pretty happy on a day like this," I muttered as I walked up to the counter. Hopefully, he won't do anything funny and pull another trick on me. Weaponless or not, I can still fight. Heck, I still managed to retain my casting abilities, even though they were poor on Earth due to the lack of Aer or some sort of energy lingering about. At least, that's what I think.

"Because it's Christmas, and isn't that a day to be happy all around?"

I snorted. "To some people, no."

"Hmph. You should be then. Days like these where happiness is abundant everywhere are quite rare now. And besides - you don't know what could happen. You should gain some good memories while you still can." He gave me such a cheerful look that made me - _honestly_ - wonder if he was planning to kill me or something but make its appearance akin to an accident. Knowing him, I can't quite drop the idea from my head.

"True," I answered him quietly, then plucking the lollipop out of his fingers. Ugh, no matter how many years passed, he still managed to make things magically disappear and reappear in his hands. Somehow. "And that's mine, remember?"

"Without paying? Not at all."

"Since when did you of all people need money?"

"Since I lost my rights."

Oh yeah... his rights. His rights for being 'one of them'. I only gave him a flat look before grudgingly searching my pockets for the right amount of money (and murmuring curses while at it, but no one needed to hear an unnecessary detail such as that, right?). As I did so, a little girl with long, silky black hair tied in a swaying ponytail entered cheerfully, her mother - I suppose? - following her. The kid suddenly stopped on noticing me, then pointing that the rainbow-swirled treat in my hand. She didn't seem to have noticed my other hand mid-way through placing the money in Candy Store Guy's out-stretched hand.

"Moooooom, can I have that one?" she chirped.

"Eeeeeeh? I had just got you a present you know!" the woman pouted playful - something you don't really see everyday. "And besides, your aunts and uncles got you some nice things as well."

"Well~ Aunty Rita's stuff was cool, and Aunty Estelle's book looks really nice to read and all – Uncle Raven was pretty weird when he gave me those archery lessons, compared to everyone else - but Dad doesn't come home anymore... so, that can be like his present!" The girl said, her voice filled with happiness, but carefully laced with hints of disappointment. The woman looked quietly at her, earthly brown eyes expressing a strange sort of regret that really didn't become so strange as I grew up. I bit my lip - I keep gaining habits no matter what, with the lip-biting coming in rather recently - as I watched the scene unfold.

"...Can I have it then, please?" the girl suddenly broke the silence. The woman took a bit longer to recover, but she eventually nodded and looked at me somewhat apologetically.

"Yeah yeah, I know," I sighed. With a slight rush, I had pushed the money into Candy Store Guy's hand - "It's mine now, okay, Fairy Man," I hissed under my breath to him - before I walked to the pair, bending down a bit to the girl's level and handing her the lollipop. As I looked back up - the girl was practically jumping into the shelves with her excitement - I smiled at the woman. "She wanted it, so I'll have to give it. Consider it my act of gifting for the day."

"Thanks," the woman said with a grin, before it became slightly guilty as she continued. "Yuri just loves sweets, for some reason. Ahaha..."

I returned it with a wistful smile. "Well, isn't that interesting. I just remember having a really random friend - like myself, somewhat - who loved chocolate like anything. She said that she ate chocolate 'seductively', which I guess is good enough of an opinion to how much she loved her sweets and all. Her name was Letha Vitae, as in, the river 'Letha'. Though... that's not as surprising as before, was it?"

Letha didn't miss a beat as she continued, "Nope, not really. I think I've been sort of drained of being surprised. The journey kinda did that to me."

She paused, then pointed behind me to Candy Store Guy, who was currently looking under the counter for something or the other. "Though finding _him_ working here is a bit shocking to me. He never really fits the image of a 'candy man' guy." Candy Store Guy looked up right as she finished her sentence, apparently having heard us talk as he tossed me a lollipop - it was strawberry pink and apple honey-brown in color, instead of red and blue - with a sly-looking smile.

"Well, I have to work with what I have now, Ms Lowell. Nothing more I can do but live here, and perhaps gain some amusement while at it."

She shot him a lightly-irritated glare to him before dragging me - and her daughter, though she kinda didn't mind it - abruptly out of the door. The man's cheerful 'good bye' didn't seem to do her any good either. The moment we were out of the door - actually, far out of sight from the store itself - Letha finally decided to stop, much to my relief. I never liked going anywhere on foot, so the journey was pretty much hell back then. As she let go of me, I rolled my eyes at the brunette woman, but somehow managed to crack a small smile. "Still annoyed by him?"

"Anyone would be - he's as sly as Yuri, and annoying because of that too." She huffed, her breath a cloud of foggy white. Idly, I had wondered if she was referring to the little girl having trouble removing the wrapper off the lollipop, or the raven-haired swordsman.

"Lighten' up, Lethy. Alastor may stay like that for Goddess-knows how long, but at least he won't try to mess with you and everyone. He hopefully knows what we're all capable of, especially together!"

She looked mighty unconvinced. "..._Hopefully_."

* * *

><p>Why are my writing skills deciding to turn into crap <em>now<em>? Gawd, this looks _horrible beyond compare_. But oh well - I kinda can't get anything more to edit it out. But everything still looks pretty much forced. _ARGH._

And yeah, I added YurixLetha bits. Because that fan/made-up pairing is the best I've definitely seen~ (Besides 'A Log' and 'Cheese') Ohohohoho~

Anyway, review if you like.

~Shiroi


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